Introduction

The fiction novel, The Circle, written by Dave Eggers, is a story of technology and the consequences too much knowledge can have on a society. The Circle is a technology company comparable to Google's campus. Their goal is to connect all of society's information to one place; in a sense, it is combining Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, email, blogs, and every other social media or form of online communication in one place. The next mission of The Circle is to create a completely transparent society. This ultimately states that all of society would have equal access to anyone and everyone's information and daily activities. Throughout the book, the protagonist suffers loses due to transparency and knowing too much information. However, she has already become too engulfed with the idea of the company and doesn't notice the harm it is conducting around her.

Main Argument - Transparency has a negative effect.

The Circle includes many arguments that we covered in class. The main theme of the book, and a term we discussed at length in LIS 201 is transparency. The novel focuses on the idea of transparency and provides an engaging story of how the characters react differently to a transparent society. Eggers overarching argument is that transparency and creating a completely transparent society has many negative consequences and is not a good thing. Transparency, as described in "Where Web 2.0 went wrong," is the degree that companies and consumers are completely forthcoming about their connections and terms to ensure that everybody has equal access to all information. (2013, p. 71) While this differs slightly from Eggers use of transparency in The Circle, they still have the same underlying principles. Eggers transparency refers to the complete transparency of people's lives and everyday activities by placing cameras in public spaces and even around people's necks.

The main character, Mae, is our closest relation to someone who is completely transparent. Eggers follows her journey through the story, using her choices, reactions and mistakes to depict his argument. Throughout the experience of becoming transparent, Mae leads her ex-boyfriend to suicide, ruins her relationship with her parents and jeopardizes her friendship with her best friend.

Works Cited

Henry Jenkins et al.. "Where Web 2.0 went wrong," Spreadable Media (2013).

Underlying argument - the end of privacy and dataveillance.

While Eggers uses Mae to demonstrate the downfalls of transparency, he also incorporates the idea of privacy and being observed as underlying themes throughout the novel. David Lyon talks about "the end of privacy" and dataveillance in his article "Surveillance, power and everyday life." The end of privacy has arisen in the past decades because of the abundance of technology that has emerged. As Lyon states, "with the rise of technology and surveillance, it is nearly impossible to have privacy...online actions are tracked" (458), privacy as narrated in The Circle poses similar issues. This is the exact problem that impede Mae's life. As she first-handedly encounters a lack of privacy, her relationships become tense and she finds herself changing her behavior. In addition, because her live camera feed is available for anybody to see, society is also affected. This is the idea of "dataveillance" that Lyons also brings up in his argument. As described, so much data is available through new technologies, that the personal data allows the technology to surveil the users (457); this mirrors Eggers argument about everybody having the access to information. The live camera feed that Mae wears is recording information about herself and her activities, then providing it to the access of the world. Anybody and everybody can watch Mae's activities and learn about her life through this technology. Overall, both of these underlying arguments radiate in the larger idea of transparency. They all contribute to the idea of technologies providing too much information and ultimately being detrimental to those affected by them.

Works Cited

David Lyon, "Surveillance, power and everyday life," in R. Mansell et al. eds., The Oxford Handbook of Information and Communication Technologies (2007).

Underlying argument - absence-in-presence.

One more argument throughout that I don't think gets enough text time is the idea of absence-in-presence. In "The very well connected: Friending, bonding and community in the digital age," absence-in-presence is described as being somewhere virtually while you are physically somewhere else. (Watkins, 2009, p. 48) This notion was present throughout the The Circle, as the main focus of the book was the implementation of transparency and surveillance cameras throughout society. Mae is absent but present in her everyday life as she is present in a virtual live feed of her life to whomever is streaming her cast. This argument, unlike the others I believe is somewhat positive. While the other themes of the book are invasion of privacy and technology being detrimental, this idea brings some hope. I think the notion of being able to be somewhere virtually, when there may be physical obstacles is one of the most prominent advances of technology. This capability gives the ability to people with impeding disabilities the opportunity to see things they may never have had the chance.

In The Circle, when the new project to implement cameras into public spaces and have people wear live camera feeds around their neck is introduced, this absence in presence idea is represented. One of the example cameras shows a hiker at the top of Machu Picchu. This is a prime example of how such technology has power to be positive. Someone with a physical disability may have never been able to see such a sight. However, the technology and the idea of absence-in-presence provides this inspiring opportunity.

Works Cited

S. Craig Watkins, "The very well connected: Friending, bonding and community in the digital age," The Young and the Digital (2009).